Mining crane having telescoping boom movable bodily to selected levels



June 1967 c G. HACKENBERGER 3,326,390

MINING CRANE HAVING TELESCOPING BOOM MOVABLE BQDILY TO SELECTED LEVELS Filed Feb. i), 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet. 1

OLAUS s. HAGKIENBERGER INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS June 1967 c. G. HACKENBERGER 3,326,390

MINING CRANE HAVING TELESCOPING BOOM MOVABLE BODILY TO SELECTED LEVELS Filed Feb. 1965 v 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiG 4 GLAUS G. HAOKENBERGER INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS J1me 1967 c. G. HACKENBERGER 3,326,390

MINING CRANE HAVING TELESCOFING BOOM MOVABLE BODILY TO SELECTED LEVELS Filed Feb. 5, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG 7 4o 29 OLAUS G. HACKENBERGER INVENTOR.

FIG. 8 j g g ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,326,390 MINING CRANE HAVlNG TELESCOPING BOOM MOVABLE BODILY T0 SELECTED LEVELS Claus G. Hackenberger, Tacoma, Wash, assignor to Tacoma Boatbuilding Co., inc Tacoma, Wash", a corporation of Washington Filed Feb. 5, 1965, Ser. No. 430,671 3 Claims. (Cl. 21235) This invention relates to a crane of the type illustrated and described in my copending application for Letters Patent of the United States filed May 18, 1964, Ser. No. 368,173, now Patent No. 3,279,621, and namely a crane which is or may be mounted upon a self-powered utility vehicle with its boom arranged for training, vertical swing, and lufiing motion, and which is characterized in that the lufiing, i.e. in-and-out movement of a load suspended from the boorns outer end function of the boom can be performed at a very low level, thus making the crane especially adaptable for use in mining operations.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a crane of the above nature embodying a perfected boom of wide adaptability.

A further important object is to provide a crane of the described nature in which the boom is comprised of an outer reach section carried for endwise sliding movement by an inner guide section and with the guide section mounted fore and aft upon free upper ends of a pair of upright front and rear swing-links so that, by swinging such swing-links in the degree desired between a lowered inclined position and a raised upright position, the guide section of the boom can be made to occupy any one of multiple levels within the low and high limits of a given range and the reach section can then be level-luffed along said selected level by telescoping the reach section within the guide section.

As a yet additional object the invention aims to provide a crane in which one of the swing-links admits of being lengthened or shortened at will so that, coupled with the ability to telescope the boom, the reach section (equipped with a suitable terminal accessory) can be made to perform any one of a wide variety of functions such, for example, as drilling into rock along a desired exact axial line.

These and yet additional objects and advantages of the invention will appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view portraying a crane incorporating teachings of the present invention, and showing the reach section of the boom as having been luffed-in while occupying a low level.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view thereof, and representing by full and broken lines the positions occupied by stabilizing feet when the same are placed in operative and inoperative positions, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the crane.

FIG. 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view drawn to an enlarged scale on line 44 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view on line 5-5 of FIG. 1, employing the enlarged scale of FIG. 4.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are each a schematic side elevational view illustrating the boom in several of the myriad positions into which the same can be moved; and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken from the same vantage point as FIG. 5 and illustrating a modified preferred system for taking in and paying out hoist cable.

Referring to said drawings, the numeral 10 denotes a rubber-tired utility vehicle having out-riggers, as 11, swingably or otherwise suitably carried so as tobe moved from normal out-of-the-way positions into extended operating positions whereat screw jacks with stabilizing feet 12 thereon can be lowered into engagement with the ground. The engine 13 for the vehicle has the usual power take-off, and driven thereby is a pump for a hydraulic system having controls which are located convenient to the drivers station. Such hydraulic system may be like or similar to the system illustrated and described in my above-identified co-pending application.

The crane of the present invention employs a bull wheel 14 as a rotary mounting base, and as with said hydraulic system this mounting base is or may be engineered much the same as the corresponding part of my co-pending application. Suflice it to here say that the mounting base receives its support from a ring 15 which rigidly surmounts the vehicle frame in a position centered between the vehicles front ground wheels 16, is journaled to turn about a vertical axis concentric to the ring, and is moved by power to any selected point within a given range of training motion.

Two separated pairs of spaced upstanding ribs 17 are provided upon the mounting base, located one pair at one side and the other pair at the other side of a diameter of the mounting base in positions whereat the respective channel which is defined between each pair of ribs paralleis the longitudinal median line of the vehicle when the base is centered between its two extremes of turning motion. Each channel is correspondingly traversed at each of the two ends by a respective one of two transverse horizontal pivot pins 20 and 21. A respective set, one for each channel, of front and rear swing links have their lower ends fulcrumed to said pivot pins, the front link 22 to the pivot pin 20 and the rear link 23 to the pivot pin 21. The front link 22 is a double-acting hydraulic jack and its length, when contracted, corresponds to the length of the rear link 23.

The separation of the ribs, one pair from the other pair, produces in the upper face of the mounting base a third channel median to the other two channels. A trans verse horizontal pivot pin 24 traverses this latter channel at a point spaced at moderate distance to the rear of the fulcrum 20 and provides a fulcrum for the lower end of a hydraulic jack 25. The upper end of this jack is pivotally attached by a horizontal pivot pin 19 to a cross-bar which rigidly connects the set of rear swing links 23 at a point intermediate the length of the latter.

The boom of the present invention is an extensible structure comprised of telescopically associated sections 26 and 27. Both sections are hollow. The interior section 26 is much the longer of the two, is a reach member, and at its outer end carries a sheave 28 over which a hoist cable 29 is trained.- The exterior section 27 guides the reach section 26 in the latters endwise slide motion and is open at the rear as well as the front end so that the latter sections rear end can protrude therefrom and thus allow a full retraction of such reach section into the guide section. Viewed from an end the interior profile of the guide section is rectangular in shape. A groove 30 is let into the bottom wall and runs the full length of the section, accommodating a rack 31 which runs the full length of the reach section along the under side thereof. The rack is welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the reach section. Telescoping motion is accomplished by a pinion 32 meshing the rack and driven in either of two opposite directions, selectively, by a reversing hydraulic motor 33 having its housing rigidly secured to the underside of the guide section 26 in a position closely adjacent to the outer end thereof. The pinion occupies an opening provided in the bottom wall of the guide section.

Trunnion pins 34 projecting laterally from opposite sides of the guide section adjacent the rear extremity thereof connect such section with the upper ends of the two rear swing links 23. Co-axial pins 35 connect the guide section with the upper ends of the two front swing links 22, with such latter pins traversing the arms of worked cheek-lugs 36. The fore-and-aft spacing between the pins 34 and the pins 35 corresponds to the fore-andaft spacing between the fulcrums 20 and 21. The guide section desirably has an over-all length considerably greater than said fore-and-aft spacing of the fulcrurns.

The inboard end of the cable 29extends from the sheave 28 into the hollow interior of the reach section and in the embodiment detailed in FIG. 5 winds upon a drum 42. Desirably, a reversible hydraulic motor 43 turns the drum, driving through reduction gearing.

A modified system for taking in and paying out cable in which the cable length is not limited by the capacity of the winding drum, and which obviates need of gearing to give a necessary reduction, is illustrated in FIG. 8. In this arrangement the inboard end of the cable is trained about two sets of sheaves. One set 44 is carried by a movable mounting 37 and the other set 45 by a localized mounting 38. The inboard extremity of the cable is deadended to the reach section. The movable mounting lies the more distal to the sheave 28 and is in the nature of a cross-head presenting upon each of its two ends a respective tongue received for sliding movement endwise to the reach section in slots 40 provided in the side walls of the reach section. A double-acting hydraulic jack 41 is received between the two sheave mountings. Extension of the jack perforce takes up on the cable while retraction pays out cable.

The low level at which the crane is enabled to levelluflF, which is performed by positioning the boom horizontallyat the desired level and then telescoping the boom, will be seen fromv an inspection of FIG. 1, and this view and FIGS. 6 and 7 are indicative of the cranes multiple level-lufling levels and the wide range of positions to which the working end of the boom can be moved. It will be understood that quick-release fittings are provided in the fluid-flow lines which lead to and from the interior of the boom section 26. It will be apparent that the reach section can be removed with unusual ease and expedition. As a consequence thereof the crane is made adaptable to a variety of boom end uses. By way of example, the illustrated reach section could be replaced by a reach section incorporating a rock drill or, say, a work platform or pallet-handling forks.

It is believed that the invention will have been clearly understood from the foregoing detailed description of my now-preferred illustrated embodiment. Changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and it is accordingly my intention that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexed claims be given the broadest interpretation to which the employed language fairly admits.

What I claim is:

1. A crane comprising, in combination with a mounttion and a reach section receiving a journal from the guide section for endwise slide movement, forward and aft upright swing links pivoted by lower ends to the mounting frame and by upper ends to the guide section to support the boom for bodily movement to a selected level within the low and high limits of a given range, and power means for swinging the links, and for sliding the reach section relative to the guide section to either shorten or lengthen the reach of the reach section, the forward swing link comprising a hydraulic jack contractible to a length the same as the rear swing link, the swing links generally paralleling one another when said lengths are the same.

2. A crane comprising, in combination with a mounting frame, an extensible boom comprising a guide section and a reach section receiving a journal from the guide section for endwise slide movement, forward and aft upright swing links pivoted by lower ends to the mounting frame and by upper ends to the guide section to support the boom for bodily movement to a selected level within the low and high limits of a given range, and power means for swinging the links and for sliding the reach section relative to the guide section to either shorten or lengthen the reachv of the reach section, the aft swing link comprising two arms located one at one side and the other at the other side of the guide section and having a cross-bar rigidly connecting the same, the forward swing link comprising two hydraulic jacks located one at one side and the other at the other side of the guide section and being contractible to a length the same as said arms of the aft swing link, said fore and aft swing links paralleling one another when the lengths are the same, the power means for swinging the links comprising a hydraulic jack pivoted by one end to the mounting frame at a point intermediate and close to the lower-end pivots of the two hydraulic jacks which comprise the forward swing link and pivoted by its other end to said cross-bar at a point intermediate the two arms which said cross-bar connects.

3. A crane as claimed in claim 2, said link-swinging hydraulic jack being so engineered that when the same is fully contracted the aft link lies approximately perpendicular to the ground.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,611,326 12/1926 Abbe 212'55 2,911,111 11/1959 Grove 2.=l235 3,032,206 5/1962 McIntyre 212-35 3,090,496 5/ 1963 Vertrees et a1. 2l235 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,045,281 11/1951 France.

1,172,981 10/1958 France.

ANDRES H. NIELSEN, Primary Examiner.

EVON C. BLUNK, A. L. LEVINE, Assistant Examiners. 

1. A CRANE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION WITH A MOUNTING FRAME, AN EXTENSIBLE BOOM COMPRISING A GUIDE SECTION AND A REACH SECTION RECEIVING A JOURNAL FROM THE GUIDE SECTION FOR ENDWISE SLIDE MOVEMENT, FORWARD AND AFT UPRIGHT SWING LINKS PIVOTED BY LOWER ENDS TO THE MOUNTING FRAME AND BY UPPER ENDS TO THE GUIDE SECTION TO SUPPORT THE BOOM FOR BODILY MOVEMENT TO A SELECTED POWER MEANS FOR SWINGING THE LINKS, AND FOR SLIDING THE POWER MEANS FOR SWINGING THE LINKS, AND FOR SLIDING THE REACH SECTION RELATION TO THE GUIDE SECTION TO EITHER SHORTEN OR LENGTHEN THE REACH OF THE REACH SECTION, THE FORWARD SWING LINK COMPRISING A HYDRAULIC JACK CONTRACTIBLE TO A LENGTH THE SAME AS THE REAR SWING LINK, THE SWING LINKS GENERALLY PARALLELING ONE ANOTHER WHEN SAID LENGTHS ARE THE SAME. 